As the semiconductor industry has progressed into nanometer technology nodes in pursuit of higher device density, higher performance, and lower costs, challenges from both fabrication and design issues have resulted in the development of three-dimensional designs, such as a vertical gate all around (VGAA) transistor. A typical VGAA transistor enables enhanced control of the charge carriers along the lengthwise direction through a complete encirclement of the channel region of a semiconductor nanowire by a gate dielectric and a gate electrode. The VGAA transistor has a reduced short channel effect (e.g. compared to a planar transistor), because the channel region may be surrounded by the gate electrode so that an effect of the source/drain region on an electric field of the channel region may be reduced (e.g. relative to a planar transistor).
However, there are challenges to manufacturing a VGAA transistor. For example, the processes and methods utilized in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication may not be specifically tailored for the manufacture of VGAA transistors. As such, improvements are needed in the manufacturing processes in order to manufacture VGAA transistors.